Is it just me, or is it really...

[Gordon N]

hard to find affordable business premises?

Following on from Heater's post about free commercial units in Glasgow I have been thinking about my own position, and one that I would imagine others will also be in.

Having started my business from home and on a shoestring budget I am now suffering slightly as my workload has started to increase. I am constantly pestered by distractions, and just now with the school holidays being on - children! I have to say I am not getting as much 'quality business time' as I feel I need, but I cannot commit myself to a

 

[Idea15]

I recently participated in an excellent thread over at A List Apart about balancing home/work life. Someone suggested that if some clever entrepreneur created shared "rental" office space which includes hotdesks and phone lines as well as someplace to stick the toddler, the world would be a better place. The Hatchery is fine if you know what your work schedule and work load will be a month in advance - but that's not quite how self-employment works, is it. Business incubators in sexy industrial parks at use-it-or-lose-it rates don't work - what you and I need is "pay-as-you-go" space located close to home.

 

[Idea15]

PS - I should mention that I work from my living room with my toddler and nonstop Cbeebies, there is no place in my town that has Wi-Fi, the waiting list for the nursery is still several months long, and I have a neighbour who sometimes decides that 1 PM is the right time for a techno and booze party. How's that for web design distractions!

 

[Gordon N]

The Hatchery is fine if you know what your work schedule and work load will be a month in advance - but that's not quite how self-employment works, is it. Business incubators in sexy industrial parks at use-it-or-lose-it rates don't work - what you and I need is "pay-as-you-go" space located close to home.

Exactly!

I think I have a (national) solution but it needs some research on two fronts first a demand study, and secondly and just as importantly a supply availability study. The beauty is it wouldn't cost much to setup, would have little to no running costs and could provide a trickle feed income to back up my web design business.

Thanks Heather for a well placed answer as always, now I am keen to see what the rest of you home workers think...

Regards,

Gordon

.....oh and Heather, don't look now but 'In the night garden' is on........AGAIN!

 

[Idea15]

In the US I belonged to a "neighbourhood smart car" rental scheme. There was an annual fee of $25, for which you got a little wallet card with an RFID chip. When you wanted to rent a car, you phoned up a toll-free number, entered your membership number, entered the number of the car you wanted to rent (as listed on their web site),entered the time you wanted to take it out and entered the estimated number of hours you would need it. You would then walk over to your neighbourhood smart car, wave the RFID at the driver's seat door - which would then unlock -get in, and wave your RFID again to start the ignition. And off you went.

The hourly cost was $7 (

 

[PC]

as well as someplace to stick the toddler

That's my idea of hell..... I wouldn't want to work somewhere / share an office if there were sprogs running around or shouting / screaming in the background.

they were Toyota Prius hybrid gas-electric cars - these babies would have Clarkson himself melting to the floor.

Clarkson loathes them with a vengeance (see almost any recent Top Gear show D)) and they are nowhere as 'environmentally' sound as they are made out to be.

They already have something like the scheme you describe in Edinburgh called the City Car Club.

And if MWB decides to implement his plan in Edinburgh I'll jump at the chance... as long as I can have odd ports open in the firewall!

 

[Power Lunch Club]

I too am a "Work At Home Dad"...although my distractions are not my son....he is in nursery....which cost us the equivalent of 2 mortgages a month...(I don't grudge it by the way....money well spent).

So our choice to put my son in full time nursery, means the resource isn't there to pay for rent space in an office somewhere.

Heather, there is something similar in Edinburgh called the City Car Club, which is fairly good....but need to be better used to be more effective.

I think the fact that if you have a office to go to, or even people to meet it makes it seem a little more like business and therefore you can act more businesslike. Working from home...some days I can sit working in my jeans or joggers and T shirts.....then there is housework that needs done, which can be far more entertaining than having to write a customer report...I have lost count the amount of time I have laid down on my bed just after lunch for half an hour and woken up at 3:00!!!

Thankfully I don't watch TV or listen to the radio...because I know it would be far to distracting. Although once I am logged in, I tend to leave SBF floating in the background...and dip in and out of that....

I tend to get more done early in the morning or late at night....(phone isn't ringing...or the family is bed and its quiet).

I would say having a office is a great discipline to work normal working hours, within a proper working enviromnent....but yes at present I and many other find the cost prohibative and as Heather and Gordon pointed out child care for younger or older children has a bearing on how you operate the business.

And I am sure there a few budding entrepreneurs out there who don't have children and who are single....(I remember those days)...who are full of passion and drive, but still work at home....and subject too different kinds of distractions too.

Kind regards

Gordon
PLC

 

[Brian McIntosh]

From a personal point of view I would love an office away from home. Aberdeen and the surrounding areas don't have anything that's affordable and I haven't heard of anywhere that does hot desks. We are hoping to move up to your neck of the woods soon Gordon so if you can come up with an answer, let me know.

 

[Gordon N]

From a personal point of view I would love an office away from home. Aberdeen and the surrounding areas don't have anything that's affordable and I haven't heard of anywhere that does hot desks. We are hoping to move up to your neck of the woods soon Gordon so if you can come up with an answer, let me know.

Well if nothing else, we could always share an office to keep costs down!

Regards,

Gordon

 

[Former Member 1]

I'm very close to Livingston where they seem to be constantly building new industrial units most of which seem to stand empty a lot of the time...

Certainly retail space is unaffordable which is why the place has very few small specialist shops. Knitting needles and guitar strings being two particularly banal items which are hard-to-get in Livingston. In fact even a GOOD briefcase proved impossible to find despite the so-called 'designer outlet' (Read, Chav Valley; full of total tat!).

The nearest I nearly got to a solution was when one of the two corner shops shut down. Unfortunately it was obviously earmarked for one of 'those and such as those' as every time I phoned the council up about it it 'wasn't ready to let yet'. The morning a van appeared in the street with a 'to let' sign I was on the phone before the guys had even unloaded to be told it was already gone!!!

Go figure!

By the time you pay the extortionate rents, rates install phones etc etc etc....

I'd have to increase the prices on my rate card by about 20% just to cover even basic premises. Then there's security. With many of the industrial estates being desolate during the day you can imagine how intimidating they are at night. I know MANY people who just can't afford and/or won't pay what they're asking around here.

Personally, I'm treading water at the moment and living in my pension; a small flat I bought with the intention of renting out. When I feel the time's right I hope to build something with space for the business which is more or less separated out from our living space. In fact I'd be in the midst of that process now were it not for the curent turbulence in the mortgage market.

Meanwhile. I have no living room! But I do have the advantage of being able to work to all hours without loosing touch with the family (as has happened in the past).

As for the 'hatchery' ... Can't see the advantage myself. Finding a corner for a desk at home isn't hard. Managing phones (use VOIP or a virtual receptionist) ain't a real problem..... Oh for the days when I paid

 

[Mark Lister]

I work at home - that's fine when clients want coaching over the phone, and I've been seeing clients in person here too. However I have been thinking it'd be better to have somewhere else that I can see people and run workshops, so I've been looking into this myself.

The thing is, I don't need an office full time. That led me to consider hot-desking, and also sharing a serviced office for one. But these would only be a really good solution for the bits that I'm happy to do at home anyway.

So I thought, how about private members' clubs? Bound to be expensive, I thought, but I looked into it. Turns out there's one not far from me, and for